The Other Boy Who Lived
by Catalina Royce
Summary: [One Shot] He has the life Harry should have had.


**Title:** The Other Boy Who Lived  
**Author:** Catalina Royce  
**Disclaimer:** These stories are based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.  
**Summary:**_ He_ has the life Harry _should_ have had.  
**Rating:** G  
**Author's Note:** I _am _still working on Criminal, I promise. Chapter 3 should be up on my website soon, and Chapter 4 is on the way. I am determined to get it finished by the time book 7 comes out, so keep a close eye because updates will hopefully pick up. Scout's honour.

Also, I now have images and wallpapers up on my website, Quiescence: http://quiescence**dot**never-established**dot**net (replace the word dot with an actual dot, heh.) so check it out.

This is just a short, spur of the moment one shot about the link between Harry and Neville. I've just finished re-reading the series, and then I found out about the existance of Neville/Ginny shipping, and the idea formed. However, this doesn't necessarily ship Neville/Ginny, it's just the idea that Neville has what Harry doesn't. I know it's short, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway.

**The Other Boy Who Lived**

He has the life Harry should have had.

Oh, he'd suffered too, there was no doubt about that. His parents had also been ripped away from him. His life had been hard for him, in different ways. Harry had always been fighting evil; _he_ had always been fighting himself.

_He_ would always look for, fight for, that desperate flame inside himself; courage that showed itself with reluctance. _He _would always struggle with magic, while Harry would struggle with magic users.

_He_ was never singled out, and desperately wanted to be. Harry was always the centre of attention, and was always trying to fade into the crowd.

Harry remembers sitting in Dumbledore's office, so long ago now, wondering what would have happened had _he_ been the prophesised boy. Would any of it have happened to him? Would _his_ mother have given up her life for him, have created protection so strong that it had crippled Voldemort, or would it not have happened, would Voldemort have simply killed _him_, fulfilling the prophesy and thereby become the ruler, finally managing to crush all resistance against him?

Harry would never know. What he does know, however, is this: _he_ has the life, now, that Harry should have had.

And their destinies were placed the moment the scar marred Harry's forehead:

Harry would grow up alone, no mother, no father, and in a foster family that would treat him horribly as long as he lived with him. His godfather would be absent for his first thirteen years, and present for two, so very brief years before leaving him also.

Harry would be forced to stare death in the face regularly from the age of eleven, would witness his first death at fourteen, and from then on would face a litany of killings and dirges until, at seventeen, he was forced to make his own first killing, an act which, he knew, would split his soul in half.

In the process, this 'chosen one' would be forced to watch his friends and supporters become wounded and maimed by their resolutions to stand by him.

That girl, the _take-his-breath-away_ girl would become disillusioned by his pushing her away.

She would give up waiting, would turn to another for comfort, while he struggled on, surrounded by friends but always alone.

When he finally completed his mission, he would be overcome by the feeling of no longer having a purpose, would lose direction and slowly become the same person his godfather had been during his last years – cooped up, melancholy and miserable, watching life pass him by.

_He_ grew up with family; a strict grandmother, true, but one who loved him all the same. _He_ grew up with relatives who knew his name.

_He_ would know his parents' faces, and they would – in their own way – know his.

_He_ would never face the weight of expectations – his family's expectation for him was failure.

_He_ would always fight for courage, and fight to learn the magic that came so easily to Harry.

_He_ would be alone physically at Hogwarts, but in spirit he was surrounded.

_He_ had the same determination as Harry, but he would never be expected to use it.

_He_ was loyal, and brave, but not terribly self-reliant, and he would constantly search for acceptance.

When that girl, the _take-his-breath-away_ girl turned to him for comfort, he, who was almost unknown to the Death Eaters, was able to give her that security.

When Harry became the saviour of them all, _he_ was able to rejoice and get back to the life that had been waiting for him while the war raged. _His_ life had not been leading up to that one moment. _His_ life had been waiting for that one moment, so that it could start.

_He_ would build a happy family in the wake of the war, would begin to mend the hurts of so many around him, becoming a centre of calm in a sea of anxiety and post-war paranoia.

And so when Harry sees Neville, he cannot help but envy him, the boy they had – when younger – pitied for his magical ability. When he sees that Neville has what he, Harry, was forced to give up – family, love, and acceptance – he realises that now the opposite has taken place, and that Neville Longbottom, the boy-who-was-not-prophetic, the boy-who-was-of-no-significance, the boy-who-was-almost-Harry in fact pities Harry, because the Boy Who Lived had outlived his purpose...

...at the same time that the boy who merely existed had found his.


End file.
